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A review by marko68
The Troubled Man: A Kurt Wallander Mystery by Henning Mankell
5.0
“He was who he was, he finally concluded. A man, good at his job, even astute. All his life he had tried to be part of forces of good in this world, and if he had failed, well, he want the only one. What else could a person do but try his best?” P235
Feeling somewhat melancholic at the thought of saying goodbye to Kurt Wallander. In fact, I’ve felt a sense of foreboding while reading every page of The Troubled Man, knowing that Henning Mankell’s series is coming to a close. 10 books. 10 journeys with a fictional man who I feel like I’ve come to know and in so many ways identify with. I feel like I’ve aged similarly, confronted similar thoughts and feelings and made similar decisions from time to time.
Mankell takes us on a real dive into the Cold War in The Troubled Man, centring particularly on the Swedish submarine Hårsfjärden incident that occurred in 1982. At the time it was thought a foreign submarine of Soviet origin had violated Sweden’s territorial waters and an attempt to sink it was unsuccessful. The exact origin of this vessel remains unknown to this day.
Wallander finds himself embroiled in an investigation of missing Naval commander, Håkan von Enke, whose opinions and beliefs about the Hårsfjärden incident had been made known at the highest level. von Enke’s wife Louise also mysteriously disappears a few weeks later. What makes this more of a concern is that Wallander’s daughter Linda is living with the von Enke’s son, Hans with whom she has just had a daughter, Klara.
Deception, intrigue and espionage are around every corner in this final Wallander instalment, as is a very tangible sense of Wallander’s own vulnerability and fear of aging and everything that goes along with that. At sixty, Wallander experiences a number of things that cause him to confront his own mortality and purpose.
So, it is with a heavy heart that I farewell Kurt Wallander. The joy I have thought is the prospect of a reread of the series down the track to experience anew and perhaps differently this character that I have thoroughly enjoyed walking with.
5 stars all round.
Feeling somewhat melancholic at the thought of saying goodbye to Kurt Wallander. In fact, I’ve felt a sense of foreboding while reading every page of The Troubled Man, knowing that Henning Mankell’s series is coming to a close. 10 books. 10 journeys with a fictional man who I feel like I’ve come to know and in so many ways identify with. I feel like I’ve aged similarly, confronted similar thoughts and feelings and made similar decisions from time to time.
Mankell takes us on a real dive into the Cold War in The Troubled Man, centring particularly on the Swedish submarine Hårsfjärden incident that occurred in 1982. At the time it was thought a foreign submarine of Soviet origin had violated Sweden’s territorial waters and an attempt to sink it was unsuccessful. The exact origin of this vessel remains unknown to this day.
Wallander finds himself embroiled in an investigation of missing Naval commander, Håkan von Enke, whose opinions and beliefs about the Hårsfjärden incident had been made known at the highest level. von Enke’s wife Louise also mysteriously disappears a few weeks later. What makes this more of a concern is that Wallander’s daughter Linda is living with the von Enke’s son, Hans with whom she has just had a daughter, Klara.
Deception, intrigue and espionage are around every corner in this final Wallander instalment, as is a very tangible sense of Wallander’s own vulnerability and fear of aging and everything that goes along with that. At sixty, Wallander experiences a number of things that cause him to confront his own mortality and purpose.
So, it is with a heavy heart that I farewell Kurt Wallander. The joy I have thought is the prospect of a reread of the series down the track to experience anew and perhaps differently this character that I have thoroughly enjoyed walking with.
5 stars all round.